Alex Rodriguez on MLB’s CBA Negotiations

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0:42Welcome back to The Deal. I'm Jason Kelly alongside my co-host and partner, Alex Rodriguez. Alex, you are in Minnesota doing like busy owner stuff. This is this is cool. What are you up to? Yes. Fun part of the year is a summertime and Lynx won a big game this week against Kaelin Clark and the Fever. It was a big game on national TV. We had almost 2 million people watching it, which was a huge number, plus or minus. You know, the W's doing really well, makes us 25 and 6 with 13 games remaining. Yeah, great season, great season so far. And are you seeing that performance sort of show up in attendance and all that?

1:18Yeah, so it's interesting. We had about 16 ,505 last game against the Fever. No kidding. Yeah, so for a year like this year, All the experts were thinking we would be a gap year for us. Our best player, Nafisha Khali, had two surgeries. Right. And now she's recently back. Our number two pick this year in the first round, Olivia Miles, has been just incredible. She's in talks for MVP, Rookie of the Year talks. And it reminds you of the importance of leadership, which we have a great leader and our coach, Cheryl Reeve, and the importance of a point guard, which in many ways is like a quarterback in football.

1:53She's really leading the way. and now Fee has played about four or five games. And so, yeah, we feel like we have a good shot coming down the stretch, 13 to go and a lot of work to do. Yeah, winning makes a difference. All right, and you're doing some business out there, meeting with sponsors. You've got some other things going on. I want to talk about baseball, though. You know, you're busy being a very successful owner. That's great. But baseball, let's get back to your roots and talk about this weekend. You're going to be in Seattle. I just found out about this. What a moment. I mean, 50th year of the franchise, 50th anniversary of the Mariners.

2:26That's exactly right. It's the 50th birthday. This upcoming Saturday, we will have all 50 players, top 50 players back. I received a call from Mr. Stanton, the owner, the general partner of the Mariners. And I got to tell you, Jason, I got really emotional because the last time I got cheered in that stadium was about 27 years ago in 2000, my last year before I became a free agent and went to Texas for three years. So when I got that car, it was really kind of a nice full circle moment for me to be back in a place that I love so much, that did so much for me under the tutelage of Lupinella, Griffey, Jay Buhner, Edgar Martinez, most of these guys, Hall of Famers, Randy Johnson.

3:07So it's going to be a beautiful night in the Pacific Northwest in August. It's going to be great. Yeah, I mean, I have to say, I, you know, obviously knew a lot about your career, but watching Alex vs. A-Rod, which if people haven't seen it, shame on Ian, I'm just kidding. You can watch it on HBO Max. But, you know, I had not realized, first of all, you were a baby, like you were a literal baby, practically, when you got there. And I feel like Lou Piniella, and maybe you could talk about this a little bit, was an unbelievable force for good in your life. There's no question. You know, my father left at 10.

3:40I was fortunate enough to have a great coach in high school who I met when I was 14. And then he handed me over to Lupinella at 17. And for a matter of 10 years, I had two great coaches, mentors, father figures. And I really feel, Jason, that if I would have stayed under the Seattle bubble for maybe another three years under Lupinella's tutelage, I think things would have been a lot better. I mean, at least I've convinced myself of that. Yeah. And of course, I've done a lot of mentor work and, you know, turned the lens inward and all of that, which we talk about in the documentary. But I think Lou Piniella is someone who I love and has been a great, great figure in my life.

4:17Yeah, it's interesting, too. I mean, it's funny. I have a surprising number of Mariners fans in my life. And the devotion to that team, you know, Seattle, it's, you know, as far away as you can get and still be in the continental United States. And that's part of what I think makes it such a special place. and the devotion to that team, 50 years. But you also, you know, when you rattle off those names, those are people who really advance the game of baseball and I dare say the business of baseball. You know, you think about Randy Johnson, you think about Ken Griffey Jr., you think about each of our, I mean, in each of their individual ways, like they really grew the game in a way that made it that much bigger of a business, I think.

4:59I'm sure you've thought about this. Well, there's no question about it. I mean, if you think about Griffin, how groundbreaking his game was with the hat backwards, the kid having fun, the first major Nike campaign. In many ways, he was like our Michael Jordan there for about 10 years. And even though he was in the Pacific Northwest, his brand was so strong, it transcended America. And then you look at Ichiro and his style of play. It grew the game globally. Obviously, Asia, Japan is a huge market for us. We see it today with Otani and others. but each who really transformed the game in his style of play, his contact, his speed, the ability to throw the ball from the outfield.

5:37And it was quite a phenomenon. Yeah. Well, I'm really interested to hear the stories that you have. That's an emotional moment for you. When I first got drafted in 1993, 1-1 by the Mariners, it was six years after Griffey got chosen 1-1. So Roger Youngward, the late Roger Youngward, who was the main scout for the Mariners, drafted both of us. He also drafted Sean Dunstan and Daryl Strawberry. So he was an incredible talent evaluator. But the gift and the curse about Seattle, one, you said, is very far. But the gift of it is you have the whole Pacific Northwest quadrant almost as a monopoly from Utah, the Bay Area, Idaho, Coeur d 'Alene, to even Southern Canada.

6:20That whole region is all Mariners, therefore is a great business. They have great numbers. The TV ratings actually rate as well as the Yankees. All right, so let's talk, Alex, about where we are with baseball. You said, I think you said it to me, you said it on the Fox broadcast, you said it to anyone who will listen. This is the most important season for Major League Baseball in a long time. Has the league delivered so far? Is it meeting the expectations for this crucial season? Yes, and in many ways it's made it even more complicated because there's so many different things going on. As an example, the worst five payrolls are all over 500.

7:02Yeah. Right? That's incredible. The highest payroll in baseball is the New York Mets. They have one of the worst record, if not the worst record. And then you have teams like the Brewers with our buddy over there. Marc Adonacio, yeah. Yes, sir. And Murphy, the great coach that recruited me when he was at Notre Dame in Arizona State. Oh, my God. Right? And they have the 19th payroll and have the very best record in baseball, even better than the Dodgers. So all these things are happening. And, of course, the Dodgers make an incredible trade by trading two-time Cy Young winner Tarek Skubal from the Tigers to the Dodgers.

7:39And here we go again. They're in the middle of the fairway, about to win their third world championship. 41 % odds versus the field, 59 to win the championship. Highest we've ever had in baseball. Oh, my God. God, that's crazy. But so so take that into the sort of broader landscape. How does that play into the biggest negotiation that's happening, at least quietly, which is this new CBA? It expires on December 1, as you have pointed out. So with these smaller market, lower payroll teams doing well, how does that affect the conversations between the league and the players? or the owners and the players?

8:26I think for the owners, isn't that the greatest thing in the world? For this timing that, you know, the lowest five payrolls are doing really, really well. That actually works against them. But what works in their favor is here, the Dodgers come again, they're a runaway train. They have over$300 million payroll. When you include luxury tax over 600. Well, you take the Dodgers over$600 million in payroll and you compare them to Cleveland at 74 million. and they're probably going to go to the postseason. Or Tampa, who's two and a half, three games on top of the Yankees, they're over 300, the Yankees, and Tampa's at 100.

9:02So it's all these incredible shifts and deltas. But I think the biggest one is, look, the Dodgers, while having a Titan, call it a dynasty is good for baseball, but too much of a good thing could also be a bad thing. And I think that's going to be the point of the other 29 teams. And I think for the players who I was a member of this union for almost a quarter of a century, this would be the biggest test this union has ever had since Marvin Miller started this many, many decades ago. Yeah. The owners are aligned, and I think they will test the players. And the players say they're aligned, and they say they're going to test the owners.

9:40It's going to be a heavyweight battle match. Yeah. How's Manfred doing amid all of this? How do you think he's playing it so far? I think Rob is doing an incredible job because, I mean, if you think about it, I just went to a game, Jason, last weekend, and it was Yankees-Cubs. Full house, really exciting. But the game, you know, I went to get a quick bite, and the game was almost over. It snapped. It was like two hours and 20 minutes. It was fantastic. The pace was great. Yankees won 2-0. but amongst all this noise, Rob Manford, I think if he can figure out a way, just like we did with the WNBA, figure out a way to somewhere meet in the middle and get this thing through and continue the tailwinds of Major League Baseball, I think he ends up with a big A, A+.

10:24And so, I mean, for the person who's not following it minute to minute as you are and who's interested in the business of sports, I would put myself in this category. I'm watching it relatively closely, but I don't know all the details like you do. All I see from a headline perspective is owners want a salary cap, players don't. Like that's the sort of like TLDR for this debate. Is there a middle? Because like it feels like there's either a salary cap or there's not. And I know that there's like terms of art and all of that. What is a potential meeting in the middle? If you were, I'm going to do to you what you often do to our guests.

11:02You know, if you were the commissioner, if you were in charge, like what would you do? What's a viable solution here? Okay, disclaimer, I'm much better at asking questions after you coached me than I am answering them. But you're giving my own medicine here. So, Jason, let's think about this. You have two boys, right? You have two sons. Let's just say one's a shortstop and one's a pitcher. And you have 30 teams. In layman's terms, if there is no salary cap, that means that players can make$11,$12,$13 million, right? But if you put a cap around$10, that also means that if the low payroll is$1, I think what the owners are trying to say, look, we'll pay the full roster.

11:41We'll elevate it to$3. We just want a ceiling at$10. And by the way, there's only three players that are over$10 anyways. Call it Otani and call it Tucker for the Dodgers and Soto. So what we're really talking about is we want a more democratic approach. We want to pay, you know, 750 players more money across the board, but just do it in a sustainable matter that we can grow revenue. And then if the revenues are 20 bucks, we can split it right down the middle. And you guys take 10 and we take 10. I think that's the middle point here. But it's going to take some finesse. It's going to take a lot of communication, a lot of trust.

12:19and sometimes I think you bring someone that is really respected by all called Jamie Dimon, Marriott Dose, call someone like Bob Iger, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger, if you're still alive, and say, what is the best formula for the sport? Forget which side you want to go in. What is the best formula? And then of those formula, you can formulate three options and go from there. That's the way I would think about it. Yeah. I mean, it is interesting. And I just come back to the idea that certainly if you're an owner of a team, and I guess it's a little harder to do as a player because as you know, you have a finite time that you're going to be playing.

12:59And so as much as you probably want to be magnanimous and do what's right for the sport and you want baseball to thrive, you know, you only have a certain time to get yours and you want to get as much as you can, because the reality is, is that baseball is not, I think it's fair to say, and you can correct me if I'm wrong in this, because again, you know it better than I do. But from a financial perspective and from a parity perspective, it is not the healthiest of the big four sports. You know, like the NBA has figured it out. The NFL, you know, has beyond figured it out. The NHL, you know, feels like it's doing, you know, some of the right things and in a growth trajectory, talking about expansion, et cetera.

13:39So it just feels like it's in everyone's best interest to figure it out. But we live, we know this from being in the business world. We live in a world of short termism. And this is, this needs to be in the spirit of a long-term deal and the long-term, you know, sort of success of baseball as a sport. We all love it. We all up with it, you know, as they say, baseball has been very, very good to you. So, you know, I just, I wonder if they can get there. I think they can. And I think if I was sitting on either side of this trade, what I would say is a few things. Number one, everyone, let's stay calm.

14:21Number two, let's promise not to message through the media and let's not read headlines because that's all going to do is what it does in politics, right? The red against the blue. Everyone's screaming at each other. Everyone's dug in. Everyone's upset. Egos drives and deals get crushed. What I would look is the real data. And I think players and owners both need to get a lot of real education and not just believe what people are telling you in pitches or like going and do the, when you look at the numbers and you go back 10 years, when you look at the NHL, NFL, and NBA, to your point, all those salaries have skyrocketed.

14:56And ironically, they have some type of ceiling on them. The league that doesn't have a ceiling, in some cases from 10 years ago, salaries have gone down some or been very, very flat. And you ask yourself, why is that? It doesn't make any sense. It's counterintuitive. So you have to look at the data and say, is this formula right now in 2026 moving forward working? And if I was a player, I would say, how do I get a contract like SGA from Oklahoma City? Or how do I get Pat Mahomes' contract for football because those numbers are not, you know, you take an exception of Otani, Tucker, so there's a handful.

15:34But for the most part, players are making less and it's very, very stagnant. So if you're a player, you want to see players go up in salary from one to the 700th member of the union. Yeah.

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16:27All right. So I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about the Yankees. You mentioned seeing the Cubs and the Yankees. You know, I have to say I live not that far from the Bronx. I have a couple of Yankee fans as sons and they're pretty excited. You know, I mean, there's like there's some optimism, I think. But I want you to revisit a moment that you had that you you were the one who showed it to me, to be fair, when you were coming off the All-Star game and Kevin Burkhart, you, Big Papi, Derek Jeter, the boys getting together, chopping it up after the All-Star game, and you were asked to make a World Series prediction, and you were very bullish on the Yankees, which Big Papi took exception with.

17:09I am not in a position where I can do a Big Papi impression, but you can. And can you relive that for us for a second? Well, I mean, I think basically Kevin Burkhart, a few minutes right after the All-Star game, which was very entertaining. And by the way, Philadelphia, the Phillies did a fantastic job of hosting. The fan base was incredible. And boy, if you wanted to talk about baseball, Philly baseball, there's nothing like it. What a town, right? So that was fantastic. And basically, Kevin Burkhart teed us up and said, you know, what to look for and how do the Yankees get better or something like that.

17:41And I said, look, I had huge, terrible hedges and huge disclaimers. and I basically said, if you can have Stanton and Judge back, that's the master of the obvious, right? You need Judge, you need Stanton. And then I thought you needed a couple right-handed hitters and a couple bullpen guys. And Kevin Broker said, so besides Judge, besides this, who else do you want? And then Poppy walks in and goes, who do you want? You want Yogi Berra back? Do you want DiMaggio back? Who else do you want? Reggie Jackson? A-Rod Jita? he's the best man. Lou Gary, Lou Gary. I go, sure. That'd be great too. Yeah.

18:20Yeah. It will be like, exactly. Whatever it takes, whatever it takes. All right. Any final thoughts on baseball? I mean, you seem, I mean, first of all, the Seattle thing's so cool. Baseball's in your blood. I mean, I will say one thing that I often say about you when I talk well behind your back, as Amy Poehler says on her show is the thing you have to understand about Alex Rodriguez is he's a baseball sicko. He loves baseball so much. He knows more about it than 99.9 % of the population and probably 99.999 % of anybody who ever played it. You seem optimistic though, more optimistic than I would.

18:59I think you feel more optimistic today than you were even a year ago. Is that fair? That's very fair. And the momentum just keeps on growing. Look, being at the game is a better product, Jason. I mean, instead of watching a four hour game, I'm watching a 2-20 game at Wrigley Field daytime. It was raining a little bit. I had a poncho on, but it was just the pace of the game was like really, really nice. I think you take away the CBA negotiations, take that away. This is the healthiest the game has been in 15 years, which goes back to Rob Manford, Dan Halem and company at the office, and also the folks that run the union because they've worked well for the last five or 10 years.

19:36you hope we can get a CBA done and continue the incredible momentum we've built the last five years. All right. I would like to point out that you said it went from four hours to two and 20. Even when we're talking about sports, you're still thinking about private equity deals, two and 20, you know, it's like two and 20. There you go. I heard you. I heard you can't just slip that in on me. All right. Well, best of luck in Seattle this weekend. I can't wait to see the posts and the videos from that. That's going to be very special. Good luck. Thank you. All right. Talk to you soon.

20:14The Deal is a production from Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals. The Deal is hosted by Alex Rodriguez and me, Jason Kelly. The show is produced by Stacy Wong. Our senior producers are Alexis Haught and Anna Mazarakis. Original music by Blake Maples. Our booker is Paige Keffer. Our executive producers are Amy Keene, Kelly Laferriere, and Ashley Zingaro. Special thanks to Rachel Carnevale, Elena Sos Angeles, and Nick Silva. You can also watch this episode on The Deal on YouTube. Subscribe to The Deal and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. It helps other people find the show.

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